Seniors Madde Briggs and A.J. White are among the 16,000 students nationwide to be named semifinalists in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program. Thus, these students have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 scholarship awards, worth more than $36 million, that will be offered this spring.
“Madde and A.J. are outstanding members of the Darlington Community, and we are extremely proud of their accomplishments,” said Sam Moss (’63), Darlington’s dean of college guidance. “It is quite an honor to earn semifinalist status in the National Merit Program, and we wish them the best of luck in competing for these scholarships in the spring. They are successful students, strong leaders and great candidates overall.”
Briggs has taken five honors and seven AP courses in her four years at Darlington. She is the religious life liaison in Cooper House and a member of the Spanish Honor Society, the Environmental Awareness Club, the swim and rowing teams. In addition, she serves on the Summer Reading Committee and is involved in Darlington’s peer mentoring/tutoring program at the Lower School. She is the daughter of Steve and Brenda Briggs of Rome.
White has taken 10 honors and nine AP courses. He is a member of the National Honor Society, Cum Laude Society, Spanish National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, the varsity football and track teams, and has received the Georgia Certificate of Merit, the Sewanee Club Award, the Yale Book Award, and the Phi Beta Kappa Book Award. A Centre College Fellow and Furman Scholar, White is also a two-time recipient of the Hanks Medal; a three-time recipient of the Class Scholarship Award; and has earned E.L. Wright Awards for Algebra 1H, Spanish 3H, English 1H, Geometry H, Spanish 4H, AP World History, AP Physics B, AP U.S. History and AP English Language. A.J. is the son of Ken and Terri White of Rome.
About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title. To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout the high school years, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier qualifying test performance. The student must also submit a self-descriptive essay and information about participation and leadership in school and community activities.
Seniors Kent Caraway of Kingston, Ga., and Alexandra Murray of Atlanta were named Commended Students in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program. Though they will not continue in the competition, they placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered.
